Stock Market · Introduction to Stock Markets

Placing your first order

Open your broker app. Search for a stock. Tap buy. Here's what you're actually filling in.

The order form

• Exchange, NSE or BSE. For most large-caps, doesn't matter. Default to NSE, higher liquidity.
• Qty, number of shares you want to buy.
• Price, market (execute now at any price) or limit (execute only at your price or better). Use limit for most trades.
• Product, CNC for delivery (shares go to your demat, hold as long as you want). MIS for intraday (must sell by 3:20 PM, or broker auto-squares off).

What happens after you tap buy

Your broker → exchange → order book → matching engine → confirmation. Milliseconds. You get an order confirmation popup, then a trade confirmation once it actually fills.

Check your order book

In your broker app, under Orders: pending (waiting to fill), executed (done), or rejected (error). Rejected usually means price out of range, circuit hit, or insufficient funds.

> The cost of a market order scales with the spread. On a liquid large cap the spread is a few paise and the convenience is basically free. On an illiquid small-cap where the spread is ₹5, that same convenience costs you ₹5 a share. A limit order trades the certainty of filling for the certainty of price, which is the better half of that trade exactly when the spread is wide.

After execution

For CNC trades, shares appear in your Holdings tab after T+1. Until then, they show in Positions as day's trade.

₹0Brokerage on delivery trades at most discount brokers

3M+Orders NSE's system can process per second

Takeaway. CNC is the product type that makes an order delivery rather than intraday. Market orders buy speed at the price of the spread, limit orders buy price certainty at the risk of not filling, and the wider the spread, the more that trade favours the limit order.